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JJurbank's

Spineless
Cactus

Company

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Sole Distributer

General Offices: Exposition Bldg., Pine and Battery Sts.
San Francisco, California

THIS BOOK COP>R1GHTED 1913 BY THE LUTHER BURBANK CO.

GENERAL OFFICES

EXPOSITION BLDG.

Pine and Battery Sts.
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA

SANTA ROSA OFFICE:

Hahman Building
Opposite the Court House.

Experiment Farms, Santa Rosa, California
Not Open to the Public.

Proving Grounds and Nurseries, Sebastopol,

California.
Not Open to the Public.

Demonstration Station, Broadmoor,

Oakland, California.
OPEN TO THE PUBLIC.

Seed Farms, Santa Clara Valley, California.

Warehouse and Distributing Point,
Oakland, California.

'Addfe^sT^l: Communications to the General
... .Qf&Qe jjt Sa/i. Francisco, California.

• ** - • . *

LTJTHER BTJRBAXK >J>'*,,..; J,' iS J '•} •; ."',

SANTA. ROSA, CALIF.
U. S. A.

In these modern times a man must confine his
efforts to a single occupation if it is to be well
done .

To be an extensive and successful producer of
new forms of plant life and a successful merchant
on a large scale is perhaps beyond the limit of
any one man and I have found it necessary either
to confine myself wholly to selling my new
varieties of plant life or discontinue development
work .

Greatly preferring to devote my entire energies
to the production of new varieties, I have
disposed of the sales department to a corporation
which will manage, market and carry on exclusively
the business of selling the various new forms of
plant life which I have evolved.

MANY HUNDREDS OF THESE PRODUCTIONS, ABSOLUTELY
NEW TO MANKIND AND MORE USEFUL AND VALUABLE THAN
THOSE NOW KNOWN, ARE ALREADY COMPLETE AND AWAIT
INTRODUCTION.

This corporation, The Luther Burbank Company,
is the sole distributer of the Luther Burbank Hor-
ticultural productions, and from no other source
can any one be positively assured of obtaining
genuine Luther Burbank Production.

To give each purchaser a guarantee of receiv-
ing original Burbank creations, this corporation
has originated a trademark. The name "Burbank"
has been so indiscriminately and fraudulently used
that it has been in danger of losing, in a measure,
its true significance. Every package of seed and
every plant sent out from this corporation will
have this trademark on it for your protection.
All fraudulent uses of the same will be vigorously
prosecuted and any information that will give
knowledge of its misuse will be welcome.

Signed ,

THIS BOOK COPYRIGHTED 1913 BY THE LUTHER BURBANK COMPANY

261279

The Spineless Cactus

How to Judge Novelties — Look to Their Source

The greatest inconvenience and injus-
tice is not misunderstanding, prejudice,
envy, jealousy, ignorance or ingratitude,
but that purchasers are so often deceived
by various unscrupulous dealers who,
taking advantage of the name "Burbank,"
hoist on the public green carnations,
hardy bananas, half wild, thorny cactus,
for Burbank thornless ones, blue roses,
seedless watermelons, cigars, soap, real
estate, magazine articles, obtaining money
or positions under false statements of
having been in my employ, and a thou-
sand other similar schemes; and by out-
rageous misrepresentations or the change
or addition of a word or two from the cor-

rect descriptions, deceiving purchasers,
even when a genuine product of real
value may happen to be offered.

Wise planters procure their cuttings
and plants from the original source. Tons
of so-called "thornless" cactus cuttings
have been sold to unsuspecting customers
as "BurbankV or "just as good as Bur-
bank's" by a few dealers who well know
that they are not in any respect what
they claim for them.

History of the Spineless Cactus

by Luther Burbank

For more than fifty years I have been
quite familiar with "thornless cactus" of
many species and varieties. In fact, one
of the first pets which I had in earliest
childhood was a thornless cactus, one of
the beautiful Epiphyllums.

The Phyllocactus and many of the
Cereus family are also thornless, not a
trace to be found on any part of the plants
or fruit. Thus the somewhat indefinite
popular name of "spineless cactus" has
been used by persons unacquainted with
these facts, for be it known that "thorn-
less cactus" is no more of a novelty than
a "thornless" watermelon.

But among the Cacti, which grow to an
immense size with great rapidity and
which can be readily cultivated in garden,
field or desert, no perfectly thornless ones

were known and very little interest taken
in the cacti of any kind, either thorny or
thornless, as to their agricultural or hor-
ticultural value until some seventeen
years ago when the work of improvement
was taken up on my experiment farms,
and improved perfectly smooth, rapid-
growing varieties had been produced and
made known.

Some of the best growers among these
will produce five to ten times as much
weight of food as will the wild thorny
ones (which some ignorant or unprinci-
pled dealers have recommended for cul-
tivation), under exactly the same condi-
tions. These wonderful results were not
unexpected as the genus Opuntia is a
surprisingly variable one, even in the
wild state.

The best botanists — even those who
have made the Opuntias a special study —
declare it to be one of the most difficult
genera to classify, as new forms are con-
stantly appearing and the older ones so
gradually and imperceptibly merge to-
gether. The facts, without doubt, are that
their ancestors had leaves like other vege-
tation and were as thornless as an apple
tree, but in ages past were stranded in
a region -which was gradually turning to
a desert, perhaps, by the slow evapora-
tion of some great inland lake or sea.

Being thus stranded the plants which
could adapt themselves to the heat and
drought which as the years passed by be-
came each season more and more severe,
survived, at first by dropping the leaves,
thus preventing too much evaporation,
leaving the fat smooth stems only to per-
form the functions of leaves.

The Opuntias even to this day always
shoot out very numerous rudimentary
leaves, which persist a few days or weeks
and then, having no function to perform,
drop off. These rudimentary leaves which
always appear for a time on the young
slabs are often mistaken for big thorns by
those who are not familiar with the
growth and -habits of the plant.

But the Opuntias had yet to meet an-
other enemy ; desert animals were hungry
for their rich stores of nutriment and
water, so the rudimentary leaves were
supplemented by the awful needle-like
. thorns placed at exactly the right angles
for the best defense.

Some seventeen years ago, while test-
ing the availability of a great number of
proposed forage plants from the various
arid regions of the world with a view to
the improvement of the most promising, I
was greatly impressed with the apparent
possibilities in this line among the Opun-
tias, which from their well-known vigor
and rapidity of growth, easy multiplica-
tion and universal adaptability to condi-
tions of drought, flood, heat, cold, rich
or arid soil, place them as a class far ahead
of all other members of the great cactus
family, both as forage plants and for their
most attractive, •wholesome and delicious
fruits, which are produced abundantly and
without fail each season.

These fruits, which are borne on the
different species and varieties, vary in
size from that of a small peanut to the
size of a very large banana and in colors
of crimson, scarlet, orange, yellow and
white, and also shaded in various colors
like apples, pears, peaches and plums, and
with more various attractive flavors than
are found in most other fruits except, per-
haps, the apple and the pear, the product
of a single plant being often from 50 to
200 pounds per annum, some bearing one
crop, others two or more each season like
the figs, the first or main crop ripening
as the second comes into bloom on the
same plants.

The Opuntias, from root to tip, are
practically all food and drink and are
greatly relished by all herbivorous ani-
mals, and for this very reason have had
to be on the defensive, and perhaps no-
where in the whole vegetable kingdom
have such elaborate preparations been
made; the punishment inflicted is imme-
diate, the pain severe and lasting, often
ending in death, so that all living things
have learned to avoid the Opuntias as
_they do rattlesnakes, and notwithstanding
their most delicious and nourishing fruit
produced unfailingly in greatest abund-
ance have never before been systematic-
ally improved by the Agriculturalist and
Horticulturalist as their merits so well de-
serve.

By my collectors and others, for the
earliest experiments in this work, the best
Opuntias from all sections of Mexico,
from Central and South America, from
North and South Africa, Australia, Japan,
Hawaii and the South Sea Islands, were
secured. The United States Agricultural
Department at Washington, through my
friend, Mr. David G. Fairchild, also se-
cured eight kinds of partially thornless
ones for me from Sicily, Italy, France and
North Africa, besides a small collection of
Mexican wild thorny ones which were in
the Government greenhouses at the time.
Besides these I had the hardy wild species
from Maine, Iowa, Missouri, Colorado,
California, Arizona, New Mexico, Dakota,
Texas and other States.

All these were grown and their agricul-
tural and horticultural values studied and
compared with great care.

Many so - called thornless or partly
thornless ones were obtained, but not one
among the thousands from all these
sources was free from thorns and
spicules, and even worse, those which
were the most promising in these respects
often bore the poorest fruit, were the most
unproductive of fruit or produced less
fodder, or were less hardy than the wild
thorny species and varieties.

The first work was to select the best of
these, cross them, raise numerous seed-
lings, select the best of these and so con-
tinue hoping for improvement.

One of the first and not unexpected
facts of importance to be observed was
that by crossing, the thorns were often
increased rather than diminished, but not
so with all. Some very few still became
even more thornless than their so-called

thornless parents with greatly increased
size and quality of leaves (raquettes or
slabs), and among them a combination of
the best qualities of both parents with
surprising productiveness of slabs for
feeding.

The work is still in progress, but on a
still larger scale and now these improved
Opuntias promise to be one of the most
important food-producers of this age,
some of these new creations grown from
the same lot of seed yielding fully ten
times as much feed as others under ex-
actly the same conditions.

Old half thornless ones have been
grown for ages. Among the very nu-
merous wild seedling Opuntias, partially
thornless ones have appeared from time to
time and these have been growing gen-

Wild Thorny Cactus

erally unnoticed here and there in every
part of the earth where the thorny ones
grew, the seeds no doubt scattered by
birds and other agencies. Some of these
bore fairly good but seedy fruits and have
been locally cultivated for ages, but have
never received specific horticultural names
or descriptions, though the fruits of these
and the thorny ones have long been used
extensively as food and are the principal
source of food for millions of human be-
ings in Southern Europe, North Africa,
Mexico and other lands, for about three
months in each year.

Systematic work for their improvement
has shown how pliable and readily mould-
ed is this unique, hardy denizen of rocky,
drought-cursed, wind-swept, sun-blistered
districts, and how readily it adapts itself
to more fertile soils and how rapidly it
improves under cultivation and improved
conditions.

Some one asks: "Won't they run wild
a^ain and produce thorns, when placed
under desert conditions?"

Has the "Burbank" plum, which though
introduced twenty-two years ago, and
is now more widely grown than any
other plum on this earth, shown a tend-
ency to be different in Africa, Borneo,
Japan, Egypt, Madagascar or France?
No, it is the same everywhere and the res-
idents of Chicago, Auckland, London, San
Francisco, New York and Valparaiso con-
sume them in great (and rapidly increas-
ing) numbers of carloads each season.
The same may be said of the later intro-
duced Wickson, America and numerous
other plums and of my improved fruits
and flowers which are extensively grown
and generally offered for sale by most re-
sponsible firms in all civilized countries
and are generally slowly but very surely
replacing the old and heretofore standard
varieties.

It will be so with these "new creations"
in Opuntia. Tens of thousands of others
not now ready to be distributed are under
test, this catalog partially describing only
the beginnings of a great work with the
Opuntias, which in importance may be
classed with the discovery of a new con-
tinent.

Does this work, which has been only
just briefly outlined, mean anything?

Intelligent people everywhere know
well that it means a new agricultural era
for whole continents like Australia and
Africa, and millions of otherwise useless
acres in North and South America, Eu-
rope and Asia.

And now during the past three years
the United States Department of Agri-
culture has despatched agents to all
parts where cacti grow to look up this
matter among those who had for years
been feeding the wild, thorny ones to
their stock with good results when prop-
erly prepared by fire, though it is ac-
knowledged that thus prepared, a portion
of their nutritive value is lost and though
the dangers of loss from feeding to stock
are lessened, are not by any means made
safe, even by singeing or any other pro-
cess, while many of these new thornless
ones are as safe to handle and as safe to
feed as beets, potatoes, carrots or pump-
kins.

But let it be understood that these
thorns are not growing on the wild Opun-
~tias for ornament any more than poison
fangs, teeth, claws and stings are pos-
sessed by various animals.

They are for defense, and when de-
prived of these defenses they must be
protected from stock like any other feed
grown in farm, fields or gardens.

Still some doubter who has no knowl-
edge of desert conditions or of these new
plants will say, "Will it pay?" Does any-
thing pay? Some people seem to think
that corn, wheat, oats, barley, cotton, rice,
tobacco, melons and potatoes pay.

How many tons of hay, beets or pota-
toes can be raised each season on an acre
of good soil? Yes, well, by actual weight
in the summer of 1906 in the cool coast
climate of Sonoma County, Cal., on a
heavy, black "adobe" soil, generally
thought wholly unsuited for cactus, my
new Opuntias produced the first year, six
months from single rooted leaves, planted
about June 1, an average of 47^2 pounds
per plant or one-fourth acre, yielding at
the distance planted (2^x5 feet), at the
rate of 180,230 pounds, over ninety tons,
of forage per acre.

Some of the best varieties produced very
much above this average.

Though planted much too closely for
permanent field culture, yet these notes
are of interest on a subject of which little
has been known.

These Opuntias are always expected to
and do produce nearly or quite double as

much feed the third and succeeding years
as they do the second season of planting.
Yet, I would not expect one-fourth the
above yield on desert soil without irriga-
tion but would expect nearly or quite
twice as much as the yield mentioned
above in a very warm climate with one or
two light irrigations each season.

The Spineless Cactus

These improved Opuntias must, of
course, be fenced from stock when young,
but after two or three years' growth stock
may safely be turned loose among them
as with age the main stem becomes woody
and will not be injured, but on removal
of stock will at once make a most rapid
new growth.

The leaves are to be fed to stock at any
season throughout the whole year when
most needed, and in countries where great
numbers of valuable stock are lost in times
of unusual drought, will be of inestimable
value and will also prove of enormous
value in less arid countries as a common
farm or orchard crop, even on the best
agricultural soils, but more especially on
barren, rocky, hill and mountain sides and
gravelly river beds, which are now of no
use whatever.

The small, hard, wild thorny cactus has
been a common every-day food for horses,
camels, mules, oxen, growing and beef
stock, dairy cows, pigs, and poultry for
more than fifty years.

Though millions have died from the
thorns*, yet no systematic work for their
improvement had been taken up until
some seventeen years ago; now agricul-
turists and horticulturists in every land
are deeply interested, and the governments
of all countries are taking measures to se-
cure a stock of the improved Burbank
Opuntias to avoid if possible the too com-
mon occurrence of famines, for the Opun-
tias can remain uncultivated and undis-
turbed year after year, constantly increas-
ing in size and weight until needed ; then
each acre will preserve the lives of a hun-
dred animals or even human beings for
months until other food can be obtained.

The wild cactus is generally prepared
for stock by singeing the thorns with fire,
yet this never destroys all of the thorns.

Those who have fed the wild cactus ex-
tensively acknowledge that cattle are
often seen with blood dripping from their
mouths, and that their throats and
tongues become at last inflamed, very
painful and hard, like a piece of sole
leather.

How would you enjoy being fed on
needles, fish-hooks, toothpicks, barbed
wire fence, nettles and chestnut burrs?

The wild, thorny cactus is and always
must be more or less of a pest.

Millions of cattle, sheep, goats, hogs,
ostriches and other animals have been
destroyed by it.

The new thornless ones will withstand
flood, drought, heat, wind and poor soil
better than the wild ones and will produce
one hundred tons of good food where the
average wild ones will produce ten tons
of inferior food.

Dry seasons, which are certain to come,
have been and will continue to be the
source of irreparable loss to stock raisers.

Many of the owners of the great stock
ranges have seen the necessity of some
insurance against these fearful losses and
are devoting certain tracts to these new
cactus plants to avert this danger as well
as for supplementing the usual feed.

J^The wild cactus is prepared by boiling or steam-
ing in Australia in times of drought, but even
though great loss of stock is sometimes reported
when thus prepared, some are saved from other-
wise certain starvation.

Professor J. P. Leotsakos says in regard to the
cactus:

"The old, somewhat thorny fruiting cactus is, in
my native country, one of the principal foods for
both opulence and poverty during three months
of the year when it is abundant. These pear
fruits are delicious, exceedingly nutritious and
healthful. I would rather, by far, have half a
dozen of them for breakfast than the best beef-
steak or any other food. The fruit of these per-
fected cacti is the best fruit food for man or
beast, and Mr. Burbank is a great benefactor in
perfecting the cactus. If he lived in Greece a
monument would be erected to him in every city.
I have never seen in all the world such an as-
tounding crop of fruit as I saw on Burbank's new
varieties of truly spineless cactus at Santa Eosa,
California."

Prof. 3. P. Leotsakos is a graduate of the
Royal Classical College of Athens and a teleiofoi-
tos of the law department of the University of
Athens, and belongs to one of the best-known
families of contemporary Greece. His father was
the commander of the 'revolutionary army that
brought about the deposition of King Otho in
1862, afterwards an aide-de-camp to the present
King George, and finally Senator from Lakonia
in the Greek Parliament at Athens. — D. N. Bo-
tassi, Consul-General of Greece.

An Australian Scene — Feeding Wild Thorny Cactus to Sheep in Times of Drought. Often Death
Was the Penalty, Due to the Thorns — But Many Sheep Were Saved.

Results of Feeding Wild Thorny Cactus in
Various Parts of the World

For hundreds, probably thousands of
years, the great, rapid-growing, desert
thorny cactus has furnished food for stock
and fruit for man, especially in Southern
Europe, Northern Africa, Australia and
the United States.

The whole plant furnishes nutritious
food in abundance, yet great pain and
often death was the penalty for using
them. In addition to the slabs, which fur-
nish the forage, the fruit produced many
tons to the acre, is very valuable as a stock
food, owing to the high percentage of
sugar.

The slabs of the wild cactus are cov-
ered with a mass of stout thorns, often
from one to two inches in length, and as
sharp as needles.

Frequently, in times of drought, the
hunger-driven livestock endeavored to
reach the rich succulent slabs, so jealously
guarded by the thorns, and as a result
would often be seen with blood dripping
from their mouths.

Stockmen and herders, for hundreds of
years, have availed themselves of this
source of food supply, and it is frequently
a common sight to see men gathering
from the desert the slabs, which are to be
fed to cattle, sheep and hogs.

The custom has been to burn or singe
the thorns or spines from the slabs before
feeding to the stock. The process of singe-
ing was necessarily a slow and expensive
one, and this expense, coupled to imper-
fect results in ridding the slabs of all the

thorns, was the only obstacle to a greater
use, for otherwise the forage properties
of the wild, thorny cactus are excellent
and most satisfactory to the stockmen.

A sort of gasoline blow-torch has been
used with considerable success, particular-
ly in the southwestern portion of the
United States and in Australia. Boiling,
as well as singeing by other methods, has
been resorted to and with such success
that many thousands of cattle and sheep
have been saved from certain starvation
during droughts.

However, no method has been wholly
satisfactory, as it seems to be utterly im-
possible to get rid of all the thorns and
do it on an economical commercial scale.

In North Africa, according to M. A.
Johanne, in the Journal D'Agriculture
Tropicale, (Paris), the thorny cactus is
considered a forage plant of great im-
portance in the feeding of stock. The wild
cactus has been taken under cultivation,
and plantations have been cultivated for

a period as long as fifty years, and the
plants are still vigorous and productive.
By adding a very small quantity of
chopped straw to the slabs, excellent re-
sults are had in feeding beef cattle, milch
cows, goats, etc.

From Hawaii the manager of one of
the largest ranches writes :

Haleakala Ranch,
Makawao, Maui, T. H.,
April 17, 1905.
Editor Butchers' and Stock Growers'

Journal:

I read with much interest in your issue of the
30th ultimo the article on "Cactus-Fed Beef."

On this ranch we have one paddock of twelve
hundred acres covered very thickly with cactus
or prickly pear; there is also a slight growth of
Bermuda grass growing. In this paddock are
pastured, all the year round, four hundred head
of cattle and about seven hundred hogs. The
cattle only get water when; it rains, this is,
during the months of December and January; the
other ten months they subsist entirely and solely
on the fruit a,nd young leaves of the cactus,
which they help themselves to. It is a remark-
able fact that during the dry months of the year

Using the Gasoline Torch to Singe the Thorns From the Wild Thorny Cactus so the Cactus Could

Be Fed to Live Stock. An Expensive Process, But Practiced by Many on

Account of the Food Value of the Cactus

Collecting Wild Thorny Cactus in Australia, Where It Is Fed in Quantities

we get more fat cattle per cent from that pad-
dock than from any of the others.

I consider cattle fed on cactus like these are
to have as fine flavored beef as any I have tasted
in San Francisco or New Zealand.

The hogs, with the exception of a light daily
ration of corn, fed to keep them tame, live ex-
clusively on the young leaves and fruit, which
are fed to them by herders, and thrive wonder-
fully.

L. VON TEMPSKY,
Manager Haleakala Ranch Co.

In Texas, William St. Clair, a successful
cattleman, who has for years been using
the wild, thorny cactus for cattle food,
writes :

"We find it very poor policy to put the slightest
limit on the amount our cows get. The more
they can eat, the better they thrive, and the
more milk they give. There is nothing that sets
them back more than a shortage of cactus. If we
happen to be short of milk, the cause is almost
invariably traced to the lack of cactus."

H. W. Giddens of the Giddens Stock
Farm, Texas, says :

"Cactus produces a good, rich, grass-colored
butter, without any odor or flavors. We feed in
the field, and simply singe the spines."

Actual feeding tests with a large num-
ber of stock have been held where the
chief food for the stock consisted of wild
cactus. It was found that under adverse
conditions the gain in weight was very
satisfactory and the cattle thrived exceed-
ingly well. The cattle were handled in
the same manner as the ordinary stock,
and were shipped into the Eastern market,
where they brought the highest prices.

Innumerable instances might be cited
in addition to the foregoing which show
the satisfactory results of feeding the
wild, thorny cactus, aside from the dis-
advantages occasioned by thorns.

10

Luther Burbank Among His Thor nless Cactus Plants at Santa Rosa

The Results of Luther Burbank's Work
on the Thorny Cactus

Mr. Burbank early perceived the tre-
mendous possibilities of a cactus without
thorns developed to a commercial state
and set about the task of producing
such a spineless or thornless cactus. He
has more than accomplished the aims he
had in mind when seventeen or eighteen
years ago he first conceived the idea of
developing the wild, thorny cactus into
a satisfactory and easily handled forage.
The Burbank Spineless Cactus, consider-
ed in all its possibilities, is superior to
any forage grown on the face of the earth.

The economic effect of Mr. Burbank's
achievement in taking the wild, thorny
cactus and turning it into a remarkable
forage plant cannot be overestimated. In

summing up briefly what Mr. Burbank
has accomplished may be stated :

First. The feeding of the wild, thorny
cactus in itself is beyond the experimental
stage, having been extensively utilized for
hundreds of years in the various parts of
the world as a forage, for all classes of
livestock. But one thing prevented its
utilization on a wider scale, namely, the
thorns which were very dangerous and
which inflicted injury to any animal that
fed thereon.

Second. Mr. Burbank has removed
this obstacle. He has produced from the
wild, thorny cactus a cactus which is de-
void of thorns.

11

Third. He has also increased the food
value of the Burbank Spineless Cactus
very materially.

Fourth. He has also developed enor-
mously the productivity of the cactus, hav-
ing, in fact, increased the productivity in
many instances over tenfold.

Fifth. Mr. Burbank has increased the
yield of fruit very greatly, and has de-
veloped the sugar content, which runs as
high as 16 per cent.

These results are all achieved without
special conditions of culture, care or at-
tention.

The remarkable ability of the Burbank
Spineless Cactus to thrive with very lit-
tle moisture is one which makes millions
of acres of heretofore unprofitable land
available for the production of enormous
crops of cactus forage. On these lands
alfalfa and hay could not produce a crop.

The value of land is fixed by its pro-
ductivity. This means, in other words,
that the result obtained in the supporting
or feeding of livestock from a given acre
of land establishes the value of that acre.
The Burbank Spineless Cactus, growing
under favorable conditions, will produce
enough forage without irrigation to sup-
port the year around from two to four
cows per acre, a record unequalled by any
other forage crop.

As the surrounding conditions become
more favorable, the productivity of the
cactus is increased. In other words, cac-

tus is a crop that is adapted to both cheap
land and high-priced land. The better
the soil and general conditions, the greater
the yield.

It has many advantages over other
crops, the chief one being that it is a green
succulent forage for livestock THE
YEAR ROUND. It does not have to be
harvested at any particular season, and if
immediate use is not contemplated, the
cactus will continue to grow if left in the
field. There is no need of harvesting and
storing as would be the case with any
other forage crop.

Spineless Cactus is something which is
new, and on account of this there are very
few who have had extended experience in
handling or caring for the cactus, there-
fore it is inadvisable to accept the advice
of those pretending to be informed, but
whose knowledge is limited. Those who
plant cactus are urged to read carefully
the instructions covering the culture and
the handling of the cactus as set forth in
this book, which have been prepared un-
der the general direction of Mr. Burbank,
who is the creator and only recognized
authority on the Burbank Spineless Cac-
tus. Cactus is not like any other plant,
therefore it cannot be handled like the
average plant or as the judgment might
dictate. The care and culture of cactus,
while very different from the ordinary
plants, yet is so simple that one following
directions should have little difficulty in
obtaining satisfactory results.

"That the millions of acres of desert land
overgrown with cactus may be made a source
of large revenue, seems almost incredible, but
stranger things have happened. Unless Burbank
be badly mistaken, the spineless cactus is destin-
ed to become one of the most useful of plants,
furnishing abundance of food for man and beast
in regions which have been, regarded as too
sterile and desolate for any form of stock raising
or farming. And the profitable conversion of
the common form of the plant into alcohol seems
even better assured." — "The Sacramento (Cal.)
Bee."

"The production of these new spineless fruit-
ing cacti is, in my opinion, as important to the

world as the discovery of a new continent." —
Judge S. F. L., San Jose, Cal.

RESTORING THE LAND
There is every prospect that before the life's
work of Luther Burbank has ended he will have
seen thousands of square miles of desert lands
of the world trained to a profitable condition of
fertility through the medium of his spineless
cactus. The Britsh government is considering
the feasibility of introducing Mr. Burbank's
hybrid plant in the Sahara desert, with a view of
eventually forcing the most unprolific district in
the world to support life. — "Register-Leader,"
Des Moines, Iowa.

12

Where Cactus Can be Successfully Grown

Map of Globe, Where Spinaless Cactus Can Be Grown

Cactus can be grown close in along the
coast of California, south to San Diego,
in the great valleys of California, in a
considerable part of Southern Arizona,
Southern New Mexico, Southern Texas,
Southern Louisiana and all along the Gulf
and Atlantic Coast of the United States
well up to South Carolina for about one
hundred miles inland, more or less, ac-
cording to elevation and other factors. In
a general way, this is the part of the
United States best adapted for cactus
culture.

Maps of the Globe with cross lines in-
dicating the northern and southern limits

for the successful cultivation of the new
Giant Burbank Cactus plants for fruit and
forage ; it will be observed that the whole
continents of Africa and Australia, most
of South America and the southern part
of North America, Southern Europe and
Asia and most of the thousands of islands
of the seas are included in the territory
where they can be grown ; even this great
territory, including more than three-
fourths of the inhabitable land of the
earth is being somewhat extended by the
production of hardier varieties. This work
is progressing slowly but very surely.

"Burbank's thornless cactus is certainly prov-
ing itself to be the modern vegetable marvel.
Nothing1 like it has ever been produced before.
Its vitality surpasses the limit of belief, for noth-
ing in the vegetable world has ever shown such
wonderful resistant capacity, such reproductive
powers, such exuberance of growth." — "Stand-
ard," Eureka^ Cal.

"On one of our experimental farms, in this
state, we have some of Mr. Burbank's thornless
cactus growing side by side with the best varie-
ties of the government's thornless cactus, dis-
tributed last spring.

"The rate of increase on the part of the poorest
of the Burbank cactus as compared to the best
of the government cactus is about fifteen to one."
— "Enterprise," Silver City, N. M.

13

The Spineless Cactus for Forage

For all Livestock Including Poultry

The leaves or slabs of the spineless
cactus are used for food for all kinds of
stock including poultry. The whole plant,
both the leaves and the fruit, almost
without exception, finds immediate favor
with all herbiverous animals.

They actually prefer it to almost any
other food. More than that, it makes a
superior quality of beef and exceedingly
rich milk. This is not surprising as the
cactus is one of the richest foods known
in sodium, potash and magnesium, which
are the principal salts found in milk.

These valuable organic salts are found
in the cactus more abundantly than in
any other food.

The fact is often observed that ani-
mals, when fed on cactus, improve in con-
dition more than can be accounted for by
the usual chemical analysis for food
values. It has been a matter of much
study by chemists until it was discovered
by actual experiment that the organic
mineral salts, known as sodium, potash
and magnesia aided in the digestion of
food, which was not otherwise assimi-
lated and utilized by the animal.

"The Burbank Spineless Cactus will
prove especially valuable in feeding dairy
cattle, as it will furnish a succulent feed
throughout the entire year, so that an
even flow of milk can be obtained.

A Single Burbank Spineless Cactus Plant

"When fed with a little cotton-seed meal
or other concentrated food or used with
about fifteen pounds of good alfalfa hay,
it will prove the ideal feed by which dairy-
men may obtain the same quantity and
quality of milk in January as in June.

"Even now, the best butter is being
made from dairy herds fed on singed wild
cactus with only three or four pounds of
cotton-seed meal per day or its equivalent ;
while some of the best beef cattle have

been fattened on the same rations, and
sheep, hogs and calves are being prepared
for the market on an exclusive cactus
diet."

As cattle always follow feed, there
should be an ever-present market for cac-
tus forage wherever it is grown. Besides,
as the different varieties of cactus mature
fruit from September to March, they en-
joy a season of exceptional shipping ad-
vantages.

There is the further consideration that
the cactus supplies the animal with al-
most all the water it needs.

In Hawaii and Mexico, cattle have been
known to subsist for six months on a
cactus diet without a drop of water.

THRIVE ON DRINKLESS RANCH

Animals on Millionaire's Place in Hawaii Don't
Know Taste of Water

KANSAS CITY, Jan. 20. — "I have horses on
my ranch that do not know what water is, and
will not drink it if it is brought before them.
They have never tasted water. I have good fat
cattle that have never seen water and would
not know how to act if water touched them. I
have other cattle that I have imported from the
United States which have not tasted a drop of
water since being turned out on my cactus and
blue grass pastures. They have lived for years
without water and are as fat as any grass-fed
cattle in the United States. They make just as
good beef as you can get in any restaurant."

These statements were made in sober earnest
by Robert Hind, millionaire sugar planter and
ranchman of Honolulu.

When water holes go dry on our own Western
ranges, cattle men hurry their stock out of the
country. The price of beef on the hoof goes down
and the price of meat goes up. Dry years mean
panic among the owners of cattle, and the owner
of pure-breds in the United States would not
think of buying a $1000 bull and putting him on
a ranch that had neither stream, spring nor well
on it. He would die of thirst in less than a week.

Mr. Hind has bought six valuable bulls. He

will buy several more before he returns to his
island ranch. And when he does take the animals
back he will turn them loose in a pasture of
cactus and blue grass, growing upon volcanic soil,
in which there is absolutely no water for drink-
ing purposes. And the animals will thrive as
others of their kind have thrived, which Mr.
Hind brought here a year ago.

"America is letting a lot of unsalable land lie
idle in what are now barren wastes," said Mr.
Hind. * * * Just think of the possibilities
in the millions of acres of unused and supposedly
unsalable land in your country.

"We have imported blue grass from Kentucky
and orchard grass from other parts of the United
States, and our cattle live for a good part of the
year on these grasses without water, so luxuriant-
ly do they grow and so much moisture do they
contain. When it becomes exceedingly dry and
the grasses are not doing well, we turn the cattle
and horses into cactus pastures. I have kept
one lot of seventy-five cattle in a twenty-acre
pasture of cactus for three months, and they
are doing well. They put on flesh just as cattle
do in your luxuriant Missouri pastures, but my
cattle are without water.

"The fruit of the spineless cactus is much like
that of the prickly pear in America, but is larger.
We fatten our pigs, chickens and turkeys on it.
Any domestic animal in Hawaii will eat it, and
it is a great flesh producer."

Mr. Hind started as a sugar planter and made
a fortune. Then he bought a few thousand acres
next to his plantation and imported Herefords,
Shorthorns and Polled Angus .cattle from New
Zealand. That was ten years ago. He now has
sold all his cattle, except Hereford and Polled
Angus. He has 2500 cattle, 2000 sheep and a
large number of horses on his ranch now. He
handles nothing but pure-bred stock. — Kansas
City Times.

15

A Demonstration of the Superiority of Cactus as

a Feed for Cows

Result of Feeding Burbank Spineless Cactus at the Certified
Owned by H. R. Timm at Dixon, California

Dairy

Aff&autt

2, 1912

3, 1912

4, 1912

5, 1912

6, 1912

7, 1912

8, 1912

9, 1912

10, 1912

11, 1912
12, 1912

Milk
Lbs.

37
36

34^

42

44

45

47

46

45%

43%

Cactus
Lbs.
10
22
38
67
75
75
72
76
74
76
80

The above is the result of a test in the
feeding of Burbank Spineless Cactus to a
dairy cow, made at the H. R. Timm Dairy,
Dixon, Cal. The test was made during a
period of ten days to find out the real
value of cactus as a milk-producing food.

As the dairy herd was being fed on the
best kind of green alfalfa and alfalfa hay,
it would hardly be expected that a cow
would increase in milk when cactus was
substituted for the green feed. On Sep-
tember 2, the cow was taken from the herd
and placed on a ration of cactus and bar-
ley, and a light feed of alfalfa hay. With-

in four or five days she ate it without any
grain and soon reached a gain of ten
pounds of milk daily.

I consider it a splendid substitute for
green alfalfa when fed with a small
amount of alfalfa hay. And I consider it
doubly valuable as a cow food on account
of the fact that it can be harvested and
fed during the winter months when there
is no other green feed.

H. R. TIMM.

NOTE : Mr. Timm is the president of
the First National Bank of Dixon and the
owner of one of the largest and best cer-
tified dairies in the West.
State of California,

County of Solano — ss.
H. R. Timm, being first duly sworn, de-
poses and says: I have read the attached
statement of facts and know the contents
thereof, and desire to state that the same
are true to my own knowledge, informa-
tion and belief.

Subscribed to and sworn to before me
this 3rd day of December, 1912.

H. R. TIMM.

WINFIELD R. MADDEN, Notary Pub-
lic in and for Solano County, California.

16

100 Tons of Spineless Cactus Forage Per Acre Per Year. Field Scene at Santa Rosa

The Annual Yield

In the summer of 1906 in the coast cli-
mate of Sonoma County, California, on
the black heavy adobe, a soil thought
wholly unsuitable for cactus, there was
produced an average of forty-seven and
one-half pounds per plant in six months'
growth, from single rooted leaves. These
yielded 180,230 pounds or over ninety
tons of forage per acre.

One may reasonably expect, under fa-
vorable conditions, to obtain a yield up to
100 tons of good forage per acre per year.

The Spineless Opuntias will produce
nearly double as much feed the third and
succeeding years as they do the second
season of planting.

Of course, it would not be expected
that there would be more than one-fourth
of the above yield on desert soil without
irrigation. Still there could be expected
almost twice as much, as mentioned
above, where the climate is warm and
where there are one or two light irriga-
tions each season.

17

Of Easy Culture and Rapid Growth

Burbank's Spineless Cactus Always Grown
from Cuttings, Never by Seeds

Everybody knows that Baldwin apples,
Bartlett pears and our favorite peaches,
plums and cherries can not be raised from
seeds; just the same laws hold true with
the improved Opuntias, but fortunately
they can be raised from cuttings in any
quantity with the utmost ease — more
truly they raise themselves, for when
broken from the parent plant, the cuttings
attend to rooting without further atten-
tion, whether planted right end up, bot-
tom up, sideways or not at all.

Best results are generally secured by
planting the lower half of the cuttings
below the surface of well-prepared, dry,
warm soil or sand.

No form of plant life perhaps responds
more readily to kindly treatment than the
Opuntia. This is demonstrated in the
faster, heavier and generally better
growth possible through a moderate
amount of cultivation, the keeping down
of grass and weeds, during the earlier
periods of growth. Larger yields of finer
fruit and more and tenderer pads are the

result of proper treatment. It is but natu-
ral that under distressing conditions, due
to the lack of proper care, some varieties,
especially fruiting varieties, may develop
a few short spines on the edge of a slab
or rarely one here and there, but these
generally will be found, if at all, to be soft
and cottony and so insignificant as to be
harmless. What spines do appear as a
general thing will drop off as the plant
grows older.

People who are not acquainted with the
cactus often mistake the numerous point-
ed leaflets on the undeveloped slabs for
spines. These, having no function to per-
form, soon drop off. They are as different
from spines as blossoms are from leaves.

The leaves of these new Giant cactus
varieties should be shrunken slightly or
wilted at least (except in absolutely dry
deserts or in very warm summer weath-
er). Meantime, an earlier and more rapid
growth will be secured by plowing and
harrowing the land as for any other crop.

Comparative Value of Cactus Forage

There is not any particular price for
cactus forage, simply because there is not
any for sale. And yet the question is
often asked, what it is worth? The best
answer that we can give is that where

one acre of land will produce enough feed
for one cow, the cactus plant will grow
enough feed for four. In other words, it
is four times the feeding value in quan-
tity and quality of alfalfa.

Is man also to redeem the desert for civiliza-
tion? The French will test Burbank's spineless
cactus on Sahara and the desert islands of
Mayotte, off Madagascar, and the English and
Germans will try its virtues in their South
African possessions. Burbank's creation is de-
clared to be palatable not only to cattle, but to

18

man, and it thrives on areas that are hopelessly
arid, provided there be plenty of heat and light.
It would be an almost crowning achievement if,
by his genius, man, after these thousands of
years w«re able to announce the doom of the
desert. — "Journal," Portland, Ore.

The Kind of Climate and Land Needed
for Cactus Culture

Climate

Cactus will not thrive where the
ground freezes over an inch in depth or
where the temperature stands as low as
fifteen degrees above zero for any great
period. Extreme heat is not of serious
consequence.

About six to eight inches of rainfall
are required for the best cactus culture,
although cactus will do well on three to
five inches per season.

It is not necessary that the rainfall

should be regular. The precipitation of
rain can be once in four years or even as
infrequent as once in ten years.

The Kind of Land

Cactus plants do not necessarily re-
quire rich land. The climate conditions
are more important than the soil.

The land need not be what is generally
denominated fruit or agricultural land.

Cactus will stand as much white alkali
as any plant which grows.

A Field of Young Spineless Cactus Plants

19

Burbank Cactus Leaf and Fruit

The New Burbank Cactus for Fruit

The old thorny varieties of the fruiting
cactus are too well known to need de-
scription. The fruits are the principal
food for millions of people during three
or four months each year. The fruits of
the Burbank Fruiting Cactus are greatly
superior to the old kinds, and can be
raised for one-tenth the cost of producing
other fruits.

The fresh fruit of these improved varie-
ties is unique in form and color, exceed-
ingly handsome, unusually wholesome
(the large amount of vegetable salts they
contain being regarded as very beneficial),
and far superior to the banana in flavor.
There is never a failure in the crop, which
can be shipped as safely as the other de-
ciduous fruits. The fruit can be gathered
and stored like apples, and some kinds
will keep in excellent condition from four
to five months. Samples packed in or-
dinary packing boxes without ice, were
shipped to Chicago, New York, Boston
and Washington and kept in perfect con-
dition.

20

Most delicious jams, jellies, syrups, etc.,
in enormous quantities, at a nominal cost,
are made from the fruits alone or in com-
bination with other fruits, besides various
foods and confections, such as Tuna
honey (Miel de Tuna), Tuna butter
(Melcocha), and Tuna cheese (Queso).

Opuntias have been used (even the
thorny ones), for making confectionery
by the Mexicans and others for a long
time. Some of the finest candies of Mex-
ico are candied cacti of various forms.

The juice from the fruits of the crimson
varieties is used for coloring ices, jelly
and confectionery; no more beautiful
colors can be imagined.

For the old fruiting, Opuntias or Prickly
Pears, eighteen thousand pounds of fruit
per acre is found to be a common crop on
the poorest soils, while on good soils the
best Burbank fruiting varieties will and
have produced at the rate of more than
one hundred thousand pounds of delicious
fruit per acre. The fruits differ in various
ways like apples, plums or peaches. By

Burbank Cactus in Fruit

analysis they are found to contain from
six to fourteen per cent sugar, besides a
small amount of protein and fat, also
aromas and flavors. Some contain more
of these, some less; all desirable quali-
ties are grealy increased by scientific
breeding and selection for this purpose, as
with the apple, peach, sugar beet and
other fruits, grains and vegetables.

Some of the earlier varieties ripen in
June and July, the later ones in August,
September, October and November and
through the winter. Most of them com-

mence bearing about the third year from
cuttings.

The general practice to prepare the fruit
for use is by brushing with a whisk broom
or rubbing with a coarse cloth, then cut-
ting a thin slice from each end through
the skin, then slitting from end to end
when the skin may be readily removed,
leaving the solid, sweet flesh ready for
use; another way is to slice through the
center of the fruit from end to end and
remove the flesh with a spoon.

"It can be safely said without fear of con-
tradiction that the prophecies of Luther Burbank
regarding spineless cactus are being fully realiz-
ed—and that it is now taking its place at the

head of all forage plants as a stock and dairy
feed in our Western arid and semi- arid States,
as well as poultry feed and a luscious fruit for
our tables, second to none."

21

How to grow the Burbank Spineless Cactus

Full Cultural Directions

WHAT TO PLANT— CUTTINGS OR

SEEDS

Cactus should always be raised from
cuttings, never under any circumstances
from seed, as it always runs back to the
thorny kind when grown from seed, but
never when grown from cuttings. It has
been proved time and time again in thou-
sands and thousands of cases that the
new spineless cactus does not run back to
the thorny state any more than a Baldwin
apple can change to a Ben Davis or a
Bartlett pear to a wild pear.

WHERE TO PLANT

These new spineless cacti can be plant-
ed in any part of the earth where the ther-
mometer does not go lower than 15 de-
grees above zero and where the rainfall is
not over 40 or 60 inches. In localities
where the rainfall is continuous and heavy
the cactus sometimes suffers from decay
of the leaves. It is not in any way par-
ticular as to soil, growing in any soil in
which any other plant will grow if it is
not too wet. Good agricultural land, like
corn land or vineyard land, is especially
good, and will, of course, produce a larger
crop than poorer land. Temperature and
moisture are the two important matters to
look after; soil is of little consequence
compared with these.

WHEN TO PLANT

Cactus should never be planted, trans-
planted or moved during rainy winter
weather, which is just the time to plant
nearly all other trees and plants. If
planted at this season they very promptly
decay, especially if it happens to be cold
at the same time that it is damp. The
two together are death to the cactus when
moved at such seasons and under such
conditions. The best months for planting
are the warm dry months extending in
Central California from April to Novem-
ber. The actual seasonal conditions gov-
ern always. Planting after November is
satisfactory when there is little rainfall,
and much sunshine and the land is dry.

HOW TO PLANT

The cuttings consist of slabs, sometimes
called leaves. These weigh from two to
five pounds, according to variety. It is al-
ways best to plant a whole slab. While
those that are divided will sometimes
grow fairly well, it is not economy to
divide them. Better results are always
obtained by planting whole slabs. As be-
fore stated, this must be done during the
warm months. Every slab, if properly

CACTUS ERA INEVITABLE

"The cactus area is just opening. Ten or
twenty years hence, many well-informed men be-
lieve the cactus will have supplanted and dis-
placed alfalfa throughout a great erea of the
civilized world. Why? .Because the cactus will
grow with little or no irrigation, upon any kind
of soil, with infinitely less attention than alfalfa
must have, and will produce far greater results
in yield of fodder.

"The romance and marvel of the Burbank Cac-
tus would fill a large book. The story of the
sixteen years of patient effort employed by that
wonder-worker, Luther Burbank, justly calls for
a place in literature.

"Imagine, if you please, a man collecting the
cacti of the world, selecting from all of these
varieties the best, then growing millions of seed-
lings, crossing and recrossing them, selecting and
reselecting and, finally, after sixteen years tri-

22

umphantly evolving from this patient, laborious
process and from millions of discarded cacti,
seven plants which were not only free from
spines, but which possessed the growing and feed-
ing values for which he had so long striven.
This, in a nutshell, is what Luther Burbank did
with the cactus. Sometimes out of 100,000 seed-
lings he destroyed 99,999. The remaining in-
dividual he watched and tended as carefully as a
mother her nursing babe. Patience, infinite pa-
tience, had to be added to the Burbank genius,
the truly Spineless Cactus.

"Of those anxious ones who have endeavored
to detract from the merit of this, the greatest
of the Burbank triumphs, we will say nothing.
The Burbank Thornless Cactus speaks for itself.
It will, by its wonder-working accomplishments,
best answer all critics, whether malicious or igno-
rant."—Ex.

planted and not irrigated, will root in from
four to six weeks, promptly, surely and
without fail, if properly treated. Unlike
all other plants, it is best that the cuttings
should be wilted a little, though in hot
weather they will grow without wilting.
They can be wilted in any ordinary warm
climate if placed flat on the ground where
the sun does not strike them from 11 to
2, or any little shade which protects them
from the burning, fiery heat of the mid-
day sun. When the parts that have been
cut in removing from the old plant have
become dry and seared over, they may be
planted at once, one-third under the
ground and two-thirds above, either
straight up or slanting at any angle. This
is absolutely all that is necessary in plant-
ing cactus. If the cuttings happen to
be a little bruised in shipping, the bruis-
ed places should be cut away and during
the summer time will heal over at once.
In the winter time such bruised places
will promptly decay.

PREPARING THE GROUND

Any kind of soil will do for the cactus,
though as with all other plants, the better
it is the better they will grow. The
ground should be plowed and harrowed
and allowed to become quite dry on the
surface before the cuttings are planted.
In planting the cutting, it is well to dig
out all moist earth with a trowel or spade,
and to have dry dirt around the lower part
of the cuttings, as they root much quicker
in dry dirt than in moist, strange as it may
appear. Many failures of cactus cuttings
have been caused by planting in too damp
soil, or irrigating too soon after they are
planted. In planting for forage it is well
to make double rows three feet apart, and
these double rows should be about ten
or twelve feet apart and in these double
rows the cactus should be planted alter-
nately, as in this way they help to hold
each other up better and have more room
to grow, especially while young. Cactus
may be planted on hillsides in very hot
climates on the north sides. They thrive
best on the south sides in cold climates.
The cactus is especially valuable as an
adjunct to alfalfa, as it will grow on ordi-
nary land with a very small amount of
water, where alfalfa would be sure to die
out. Under such conditions, the cactus

will thrive where alfalfa cannot be grown.
Nothing can be superior to the cactus for
this purpose, as it improves year by year.
Cactus should never be planted in the
shade or wet land. In some cases, where
there is an extreme cold spell of weather
the tips of the leaves will sometimes
freeze. When thus frozen all the de-
cayed parts should be cut away as soon
as possible, and as soon as a sunny day
comes the plants will heal over and no fur-
ther damage will be done, while if the de-
cayed portions are left on the plants a part
or the whole plant may sooner or later be
involved with the decay.

COST OF SETTING OUT SPINELESS
CACTUS

In Europe cactus has been set out by
hand labor, and the cost is estimated to
be about $5.00 per acre.

One man can set out 1,000 slabs a day
in ground previously well prepared. In a
country where traction engines can be
used and large tracts set out, the cost
would not exceed $5.00 per acre.

CULTIVATION

Cultivation during the first season or
two is of advantage to cactus, especially
on dry ground. Irrigation is barely per-
missible after they get a good start, but
not until they are well rooted. Cactus will
thrive with one tenth the water which al-
falfa requires.

WHEN TO HARVEST
One of the principal features of the
cactus is that they can be allowed to grow
year after year until needed in a dry sea-
son, or in case of a shortage of feed, then
can be harvested by the wholesale. On
good land more tons of it can be obtained
per acre than on five to ten acres of other
forage. In harvesting for ordinary, reg-
ular feeding, it is well to cut off the top
and side leaves with a long knife, hatchet
or other tool, and feed to the stock as
needed. It may be fed at any season of
the year without regard to season — sum-
mer or winter, spring or fall.

YIELD

The yield of the cactus depends greatly
upon the variety. The common wild cac-
tus yield all the way from five to twenty
tons per acre the third year. Some of the
new ones will yield ten or even more times

23

as much. The first season, if cuttings are
set out early in the season, say June, each
should make, according to variety, five to
ten or fifteen new cuttings. The second
season twice as many as that, and the
third season three times as many. The
cuttings may be replanted as soon as they
are hard and thoroughly ripened.

HOW TO FEED TO LIVE STOCK

Cattle or any kind of horned stock are
especially fond of the cactus, but as with
all other new feeds, some refuse at first,
but soon learn to eat it greedily. It is
best fed to them either whole, or better
still, the slabs may be rapidly run through
a cutter and a little bran or sprinkling of
meal will induce those animals to eat
it that do not at first understand it. Poul-
try are also fond of it and will eat it at
once, if it is sprinkled as for stock, and
afterwards greedily for green feed. Hogs
invariably like it when used to it. It is
particularly valuable for growing animals
and for milch cows, as it increases the
quantity and improves the flavor of milk
at once. But cactus, like almost all other
food, requires other food with it. It is
quite succulent and moist, and some dry
alfalfa or other hay is excellent, or a little
oil meal, bran or even dry weeds. It has
the same effect on cattle or growing ani-
mals as green feed of any kind, but does
not bloat animals like alfalfa.

HARVEST

There is no occasion to harvest the cac-
tus beforehand, because it is always in
good condition. There is no occasion for
storing it, because it is always good from
January 1st to December 31st.

Like all other crops that are worth cul-
tivating it should be fenced. No crop
worth growing can be grown other-
wise. If it is good, animals soon find
it out, as they will every other crop
that is raised for them. They should never
be turned loose in the cactus patch; no
one would turn stock into a beet or pump-
kin patch, as they would injure the plants.
They would also injure cactus plants, for
they would greedily eat their tops, stems,
roots and branches.

FRUITING CACTUS

Fruiting cactus is planted just the same

A Rooted Cutting with Newly Sprouted Slabs

as forage cactus, except that it should be
planted a little wider apart, as they grow
to an enormous size and live to a great
age, and it is well to keep them pruned
low. They will spread so that if planted
three feet apart in the narrow rows and
twelve feet apart in the wide rows they
can be harvested most conveniently. The
fruit is at its best during September, Oc-
tober and November, though some va-
rieties continue to bear throughout the
winter and spring, in fact, throughout the
entire year.

HOW TO PREPARE AND EAT THE
FRUIT

Do not handle with the bare hands.
Take each fruit on a fork and with a sharp
knife cut off both ends, and, still holding
the fruit by the fork, cut through the peel
avoiding the little bundles of bristles ; then
with the knife push the peel from the oval-
shaped mass of pulp within. Cactus fruit
is very wholesome and nourishing and can
be eaten in great quantities with benefit.
The seeds are to be swallowed as with to-
matoes. The fruit is much more delic-
ious when cold.

24

House of Representatives, United States
Part of Cong. Record

LUTHER BURBANK AND HIS WORK

From the Speech of
Hon. Everis A. Hayes

of California
In the House of Representatives

SPINELESS CACTUS

No more important thing has recently occurred
in agriculture than the successful production of
the rapid-growing, edible spineless cactus by Lu-
ther Burbank. After sixteen years of expensive
and costly experimentation he has produced a new
and most valuable cattle food for the world. Mr.
Burbank does not claim to have discovered the
spineless cactus. Some varieties of this plant
have been known for years, but without excep-
tion they have been non-edible by any animal.
For many years it has been the custom in Africa,
as well as in those parts of America where it
abounds, to feed to cattle certain varieties of
the prickly pear cactus after the spines have
been burned off. This burning, of course, greatly
increases the cost of fodder. The food value of
this spiney cactus for stock has been known by
cattlemen, who have grown and used it for same
years.

Mr. William Sinclair, a successful cattle grower
of Texas, writes:

"We find it very poor policy to put the slight-
est limit on the amount of cactus our cows get.
The more they can eat the better they thrive and
the more milk they give. There is nothing that
sets1 them back more than a shortage of cactus.
If we happen to be. short of milk the cause is
almost invariably traced to the shortage ofj
cactus."

The following table shows the comparative
value of the average cacti, alfalfa, hay and gam-
ma, a typical range grass, according to analyses
made by the University of Arizona agricultural
experimental station:

In Water-Free Substance
Cactus

without Alfalfa Gamma
fruit hay grass

Ash 19.91 5.67 15.11

Protein 6.48 12.74 6.99

Fiber 10.22 39.04 30.31

Nitro free extract.. 61.48 41.06. 45.63

Ether 1.83 1.49 1.96

The great desirability of the rapid growing
and edible spineless cactus for cattle food has
been recognized all over the world. Inspired by
the work of Mr. Burbank and by the experiments
made by the French Government in Algiers, the
United States, through the Department of Agri-

culture, was several years ago moved to take up
the matter of securing spineless cactus. Experts
were sent to foreign countries, and the world
was searched that a cactus might be found spine-
less, or nearly spineless, which would have suffi-
cient nutriment to be valuable as a cattle fodder.
From the plants so collected the Department of
Agriculture has been able to produce a cactus
sufficiently free from spines and nutritive
enough to be of some value for the cattle busi-
ness. But today, in spite of all its organization
and its wealth, the Department of Agriculture
has not obtained a cactus that is in any respect
the equal of the cactus produced by Mr. Burbank
single-handed.

Of all stock food, the Burbank improved spine-
less cactus is by far the most prolific.

It is adapted to almost any soil where the tem-
perature does not go below 18 degrees above zero,
and it will stand a great amount of heat.

Cactus is the only fodder that furnishes green,
succulent feed all the year.

Another source of great value in the Burbank
improved spineless cactus is its fruit. It is a fall
and winter fruit of attractive colors — crimson,
scarlet, yellow, white and variegated. It is a sure
bearer; a good packer and shipper; very health-
ful, andi of a flavor which many prefer to that
of bananas or figs. It contains 8 per cent to 16
per cent of sugar; is a great fattener for hogs
and cattle. Poultry also is extremely fond of it.

These make fine jellies, jams and glace fruits,
and can be used for coloring ices, jellies, confec-
tionery, and so forth.

In an experimental way, from the Burbank im-
proved spineless cactus, paper pulp and wood al-
cohol have been produced. But the greatest
value of Burbank improved spineless cactus will
be that it will make highly productive and valu-
able vast tracts of land now barren because of
insufficient rainfall, not only in Southern Cali-
fornia and Arizona, the natural home of the
cactus, but also in South America, Australia,
India, Egypt and elsewhere.

For example, on the west side of the San
Joaquin Valley are large tracts of land prac-
tically bare and worth but $10 or $15 per acre.
The annual rainfall is about five or six inches
— making the land semi-arid. On this soil, with-
out irrigation, is produced enough, with a few
pounds of chopped straw, bran or other rough-
age, to keep four cows per acre all the year. This
same land, when so situated that it can be irri-
gated and planted to alfalfa, keeps about one
cow per acre annually and is now selling for $200
per acre. In other words, Burbank improved
spineless cactus will give $15-an-acre land a
greater earning power than alfalfa on $200-an-
acre land.

Alexandria, Egypt, April 23, 1908.

"Please be kind enough to send us offer for
one or mo're varieties of plants and the amount
Of money we will have to send to you for post-

ing a lot of leaves to Egypt.

"His highness, the Khedive, is keenly inter-
ested in the question of your Opuntias and will
be glad to see a success of our future experi-
ments,"— Charles Chevalier de Blumencron.

Special Information

The best of these improved Spinelesss
Opuntias when grown under favorable
conditions on good soil in a warm cli-
mate may confidently be expected to pro-
duce an average of nearly or quite fifty
to one hundred tons of feed per acre when
once established, each season.

So much has been written about the
spineless cactus and so many are de-
ceived with the old cheap, half-wild va-
rieties which are so often offered as "Bur-
bank's" or "just as good as Burbank's"
that it seems necessary to have them dis-
tributed direct from the originator and
under correct descriptions so as to avoid
as much as possible any misunderstand-
ings, exaggerations or misstatements such
as heretofore have been carelessly, igno-
rantly or willfully made. Utterly spurious
"Burbank's Thornless Cactus" has been
offered for sale by dishonest parties for
six years or more, not only in America,
but also in Europe, Africa and Australia.

In producing these new Opuntais more
than seventeen years and much thought,
labor and capital have been expended,
thousands of crosses have been made, and
many hundred thousand seedlings and
crossbred seedlings raised. The finished
product is receiving a royal welcome
everywhere by those who know.

Few of the cacti are of any economic
value except the Opuntias ; of these there
are more than one hundred and fifty spe-
cies and innumerable varieties; all prob-
ably originally natives of the Western
Hemisphere and were cultivated by the
Indians long before Columbus discovered
America. No class of plants are more
easily grown, soil is not of much import-
ance and cultivation almost unnecessary.

These new varieties are wholly distinct
and the only really thornless ones known
on earth that are of any practical value as
producers of feed.
26

Stock can be turned loose among the
cactus, after the plants have reached an
age of three years, as the main stem be-
comes woody and can not be injured. On
the removal of the stock from the cactus
plant pasture, new leaves or slabs rapidly
appear, and in a short time has as much
feed as it had originally.

The cactus yields big, luscious slabs,
weighing from one to seven pounds each,
which can be cut at any time, summer
or winter. There is no particular harvest
season, therefore, no necessity to harvest
and store.

The selection of ordinary Opuntia cut-
tings is of some importance. Those who
have grown them on the shores of the
Mediterranean for hundreds of years al-
ways select "bearing wood" if fruit is the
object, and the least thorny and bristly
leaves if a plantation is to be produced for
forage; even some of the partially spiny
ones may be made less so by careful se-
lection of cuttings, but this labor is wholly
useless since the new Burbank varieties
are offered.

When alfalfa was generally introduced
about twenty years ago, many wiseacres
declared it was "no feed for milch cows."
Who says it is not good for them now?

It has been proved that the poorest of
the Burbank spineless cactus varieties
are so far superior to any of the old half
thorny ones that no comparison with
them can fairly be made. Is it then sur-
prising that practically all the nations of
the earth are anxious to obtain the new
Burbank Cactus as soon as possible? Be
very careful, however, that you get the
Burbank cactus, not the half spineless
ones so very often sold as the "Burbank"
or "just as good as the Burbank," such as
the builders of the pyramids of Egypt
may have cultivated.

BURBANK'S THORNLESS CACTUS AT
KIAMUKI

"Burbank's thornless cactus is now being culti-
vated at Kiamuki, and plants are being taken
from there and sent to the other islands. This
new form of cactus is growing well and there
are hopes that it will grow rapidly on the other
islands, especially in the cattle districts.

"As a food product the cactus appeals to cattle
as one of the most attractive foods found in the
pasture lands. Even the thorny cactus is eaten
by them." — "Commercial Advertiser/' Honolulu,
T. H.

International Headquarters Salvation Army
Service, London, E. C.

"I am so glad to know that you will so kindly
supply us with your latest varieties of absolutely
spineless cactus, as I am sure this will be most
valuable to India. Next to human beings the
cattle in India suffer terribly at the time of
famine and scarcity; in fact, during two or
three months every year they are reduced to
the point of starvation during the extremely
hot weather, wandering about in search of food.
Hence, I feel sure your cactus will be a great
boon to them, for cactus, as you know, grows
freely in all parts of India, only it is of the
thorny kind.

"Wishing you every success in your work, be-
lieve me,

"Yours very sincerely,

"F. BOOTH TUCKER."

Imperial Russian Consulate,
San Francisco, Cal.
Luther Burbank, Esq., Santa Rosa, Cal.

Dear Sir: It is generally known that scientific
societies, both public and private, as well as the
world at large, are greatly interested in your
work of research. Lately the Imperial Russian
Department of Agriculture has turned its atten-
tion to your cultivation of the thornless cactus.
I have the honor to be,

Yours truly,

K.

THAT SPINELESS CACTUS IS A SUCCESS

HAS BEEN PROVEN AT YUMA
The growing of spineless cactus is no longer
a desert dream, or the figment of the imagina-
tion. This desert wonder is being grown in the
desert lands adjacent to Yuma and some sur-
prisingly good results are being obtained. —
"Times," Bouse, Ariz.

"That the Chamber of Commerce of the city
of San Diego does most heartily endorse the ef-
forts to spread the new Burbank fodder, thorn-
less cactus, throughout the Southwest, thereby
rendering highly productive vast areas of arid
and semi-arid lands, and thus still further demon-
strating the agricultural importance of this sec-
tion of the country." — Resolution adopted by
San Diego Chamber of Commerce.

SAMPLES OF VARIOUS COMMENTS ON THE
WORK

"Mr. Burbank's first publication on economic
cacti serves to> set at rest many groundless sup-

positions as to the character of the work he has
had under way for years on these plants. Some
persons, forgetting that Mr. Burbank has made
up to now no official announcement of his work,
jumped to the conclusion that he had merely hit
upon one of the common nearly spineless forms
of Opuntia Ficus Indica. Others more dishonest
have been offering for sale so-called 'Burbank's
Thornless Cactus,' despite the fact that not a
single plant or seed of Mr. Burbank's new crea-
tions has left his grounds up to a few weeks ago.
"Mr. Burbank was perfectly well aware of the
inception of his work on the opuntias that there
were many forms nearly thornless, and he has
even brought to light one kind, which he calls the
'Marin,' grown in many countries, that has
neither spines nor spicules. The Marin is not
of much value, however, as it is a rather small
plant and is not hardy. The new forms are
much more rapid growers and are also more
hardy." — Dr. Walter T. Swingle, U. S. Depart-
ment of Agriculture, Washington, D. C.

Consulado G-eneral de Mexico,

San Francisco, Cal.
Hon. Luther Burbank,
Santa Rosa, Oal.

Honored Sir. — I beg to offer you my profound
acknowledgments for your kindest authorization
to have your announcement of the spineless cacti
translated into Spanish by Professor Luis A.
Beauregard, Director General of Public Instruc-
tion of Campeche, Mexico.

I have sent to the professor a textual copy of
your honored letter.

I have, sir, the honor to be

Your most obedient servant,

P. ORNELAS.

"It produces tremendous tonnage; it requires no
irrigation; it is an excellent dairy roughage, good
roughage for any cattle, and can be used for hogs,
chickens, sheep and goats. It can be fed in a
green succulent condition all the year. It has no
serious insect or fungous enemies. One planting
is good for repeated cuttings. It does not de-
teriorate with age, but can be fed when five or
six years old to even better advantage than when
young. It is a certain crop under conditions
which cause other crops to be a failure.

"It has been called a 'vegetable that grows
fruit.' "

"As a poultry food it is unsurpassed. Poultry
will leave alfalfa, lettuce and other green food
for cactus leaves."

"The response of this plant to cultivation is
phenomenal. We know of no parallel in the his-
tory of cultivated crops. The cacti in general
are considered plants of slow growth and the
pear of Southern Texas is no exception to the
general rule. While it might take it five or six
years to grow large enough to pay to harvest in
the native pastures, it makes a big crop in two
years when cultivated. By actual test it grows
eight times as fast with good cultivation as it
does without cultivation in grassy pastures."

27

What Prominent People Say of Luther Burbank

"I look to great practical results from
Burbank's work among plants." — Thomas
A. Edison.

It is said by David Starr Jordan, presi-
dent of Leland Stanford Junior Univers-
ity, California, that:

"Luther Burbank is the greatest orig-
inator of new and valuable forms of plant
life of this or any other age."

"No other man has given to horticul-
ture so many valuable things as has Lu-
ther Burbank." — Prof. E. J. Wickson,
Dean of the Department of Agriculture of
the University of California.

"He stands easily at the head of the
world's experimentalists in plant life." —
W. Atlee Burpee, of Philadelphia, one of
the leading seedmen in the United States.

By Dr. L. H. Bailey, professor of bot-
any in Cornell University, New York:

"It is an honor to California that Lu-
ther Burbank is its citizen. He is all that
he has ever been said to be, and more."

Joaquin Miller, the Poet of the Sierras,
said:

"I like to go to Santa Rosa, the home
of Luther Burbank, the man who is help-
ing God make the earth more beautiful."

"In all Europe there is no one who can
even compare with Luther Burbank. The
time will come when he will be as well
known and as highly cherished in Cali-
fornia as he now is among the scientific
men of Europe. He is a unique, great
genius." — Hugo De Vries, of Amsterdam,
Holland, the leading botanist of Europe.

"Mr. Burbank is a man who does things
that are of much benefit to mankind, and
we should do all in our power to help
him." — Theodore Roosevelt.

"Mr. Burbank's greatness, and the mag-
nitude of the value of his achievements
are recognized the world over by men
best capable of understanding and appre-
ciating both the man and his work." —
Congressman E. A. Hayes.

"To Luther Burbank has been granted
the knowledge, supreme beyond other
men, of the susceptibility of plants to vary
under the influence of new environments,
delicate manipulation and intelligent di-
rection."— Scientific American.

"The man who always does most says
the least. Your good works will bless hu-
manity long after you have said 'Good
night.' Your work is always a source of
inspiration to me, and I am continuously
wondering 'What will he accomplish
next?' "—Col. G. B. Brackett, Pomological
Chief U. S. Dept. of Agriculture, Wash-
ington, D. C.

"While I have long been impressed
with your work, I am now overwhelmed
with the vast amount of good which you
have been able to accomplish. I respect
your work above all that has ever been
done for horticulture." — Prof. Wm. B.
Alwood, Virginia College and Experiment
Station.

28

How to Order

Wherever it is possible to do so, use the order blank.
Fill out all the information that the blank spaces call for.

Be sure to write your name plainly. Give postomce where you
receive your mail, including County name. State plainly the town
or point where you receive your freight.

Give the name of the Railroad or Express company from which
you receive your freight. State whether to ship by freight or express.
In the absence of specified instructions, we shall use our judgment.

Usually orders will be shipped by freight unless otherwise speci-
fied. An exception to this rule will be where the package is small,
when it may be shipped by express. No shipments are made by mail.

You will be notified of shipment. Allow a sufficient length of
time for the package to arrive, and then if it does not arrive notify the
railroad or express company, showing the bill of lading. Also notify
us by mail and we will send a tracer after it.

We are not responsible in any manner after we have delivered
the shipment in proper condition to the carrier. We will do all in
our power, however, to straighten out any difficulty.

Nothing will be sent C. O. D.

All remittances must be either postal orders, bank drafts or cer-
tified checks, properly made out to this company.

OUR GUARANTEE.

We guarantee the seeds, plants or trees sold by this company
true to name, and will replace any that may prove otherwise through
a possible error, or will refund the original purchase price. Our
liability upon any article sold is limited to the amount of the original
purchase price, and all sales are made with this understanding.

The Luther Burbank Company

GENERAL OFFICES

Exposition Building, Pine and Battery Sts.
San Francisco, California

MANY new trees, plants and seeds are grossly misrepresented by a few
dealers who trade on the reputation of reliable firms, often doing a thriving
business by selling trees and plants in localities where they very well
know that they cannot thrive; this and the substitution of inferior or wholly
worthless trees or plants under the name and reputation of good ones has been,
and is now being carried on persistently and systematically by several parties
who victimize those who deal with them by trading on the reputations of reliable
firms and good trees1.

An especially cruel form^of this is the persistent pushing of the Spineless
Cactus, Crimson Winter Rhubarb and other tender plants for cold climates,
which cannot live where the ground freezes an inch in depth.

It should be the duty and privilege of every good citizen to aid in exposing
and routing all who are obtaining money under these false pretenses.

Having been in business almost forty years, millions of trees and plants
raised in my establishment are now bearing fruit, not only in the Western United
States, but everywhere on earth where the sun shines and trees can be grown.
Does this forty years' record of just dealing mean anything, and is it surprising
that such a reputation should be worth trading on? Counterfeit coins are not
counterfeited — it is the genuine ones that are misrepresented.

RETURN TO the circulation desk of any
University of California Library
or to the

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g. 400, Richmond Field Station
University of California
Richmond, CA 94804-4698

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DEC 0 8 2003

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